Has a Black President Changed America?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/us/politics/proud-of-obamas-presidency-blacks-are-sad-to-see-him-go.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vox%20Sentences%203/14/16%20Trump&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All&_r=0

How?

Excerpts from Slate - 

How Trump Happened

It’s not just anger over jobs and immigration. White voters hope Trump will restore the racial hierarchy upended by Barack Obama.

~~~~~~~~~~

All of which is to say that we’ve been missing the most important catalyst in Trump’s rise. What caused this fire to burn out of control? The answer, I think, is Barack Obama.

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For millions of white Americans who weren’t attuned to growing diversity and cosmopolitanism, however, Obama was a shock, a figure who appeared out of nowhere to dominate the country’s political life. And with talk of an “emerging Democratic majority,” he presaged a time when their votes—which had elected George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan—would no longer matter. More than simply “change,” Obama’s election felt like an inversion. When coupled with the broad decline in incomes and living standards caused by the Great Recession, it seemed to signal the end of a hierarchy that had always placed white Americans at the top, delivering status even when it couldn’t give material benefits.

~~~~~~~~~~

You can draw a direct line to the rise of Trump from the racial hysteria of talk radio.

~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/03/how_donald_trump_happened_racism_against_barack_obama.html

Highest Paid Jobs

From Stumbelupon - 

Physicians have topped this year’s list of the 25 highest-paying jobs in America.

In the latest report by jobs marketplace Glassdoor released on Wednesday, physicians are expected to bring home a median base salary of $180,000, which is highest among all occupations. Lawyers and research and development managers fill out the top three.

One common thread that unites the top-paying jobs is the high level of skill required, and the protection of these jobs from any threat of automation. “This report reinforces that high pay continues to be tied to in-demand skills, higher education and working in jobs that are protected from competition or automation,” said Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor chief economist, in a statement.

The tech and healthcare sector are especially well-represented in the list, with eight of the top ten-paying jobs going to either of those two sectors. “The urgency of many healthcare scenarios requires snap-decisions or creative solutions to existing medical conditions,” Chamberlain said, as reported by 24/7 Wall St. Both sectors also feature heavily in our latest 100 Best Companies to Work For rankings.

It also pays to be a manager -- 15 of the top 25-paying jobs are managerial in nature. “The manager skill set that requires maintaining a working team in a fast-paced, highly-educated industry like tech, finance or healthcare is also something that employers find difficult to automate, and will invest in with higher employee salaries,” Chamberlain told 24/7 Wall St.

The thought that robots could become our biggest competition for jobs is also reflected in Glassdoor’s list of lowest-paying jobs, which were filled by servers, receptionists and leasing consultants respectively. This follows a recent report by the World Economic Forum that estimated a net employment loss of 5.1 million jobs by 2020 due to technological change.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2ky0G2/:jPiIeHcT:qQxOM8ok/www.entrepreneur.com/article/272221

Write On!

From The Root - 

9-Year-Old Brooklyn Girl Youngest to Ever Publish Chapter Book

The Day Mohan Found His Confidence was inspired by Anaya Lee Willabus’ trip to Guyana two years ago.

BY: ANGELA BRONNER HELM

Posted: March 13 2016 11:37 AM

 

Anaya Lee Willabus, a 9-year-old girl from Brooklyn, N.Y., became the youngest person to publish a chapter book in U.S. history.

Anaya, who penned The Day Mohan Found His Confidence, described on Amazon as realistic fiction, is “about a boy’s struggle to balance life at home and school, and how he realizes he can do anything with the help of his family and friends,” Ayana said in an interview with WPIX.

“I like to read all genres, of books,” Anaya told the New York Daily News. “I love both reading and writing. They both have something that I love in them.”

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/03/_9_year_old_brooklyn_girl_youngest_to_ever_publish_chapter_book.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26

How Tootsie Rolls Saved the Troops

Remember These?

Learning Something New

The QR Code has been around for a while now, but I just learned how to personalize it. 

Thanks to Google and YouTube, I'm good to go. 

You can link a video, a business card, an email address, an event, an invitation, a song or album, etc.  As a teacher, you can include all of your contact info for your parents to quickly scan and go.  The possibilities for its application are endless.

To unlock this code, you'll need to get a QR Code Reader, to hear what I've sent.  I've linked one below for Apple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtwCTo7T9zg

http://www.qrstuff.com

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/qr-code-reader-and-scanner/id388175979?mt=8

Enjoy!

Food Chain Paper Cups

Here's a clever way to teach kids about the food chain.

http://eisforexplore.blogspot.com/2012/10/food-chain-stacking-cups.html

Black Pioneer Stuntmen

An excerpt from NPR -

For 2 Black Stuntmen Breaking Into Hollywood, 'You Were Subject To Get Hurt'

Willie Harris and Alex Brown, photographed in Stockton, Calif.

For some African-Americans who have been in Hollywood for decades, though, this is a familiar story. Willie Harris and Alex Brown, two black stuntmen who first tried to break into the movie business in the 1960s, quickly realized that studios wouldn't hire black stuntmen.

"When we were starting, anytime they had a stunt to do with a black actor in them, they would paint these white guys in blackface," Brown recalls, on a recent visit to StoryCorps with Harris.

"We wanted to prove that black guys can do stunts," Harris says. "But we couldn't get anyone to train us."

So they trained themselves. After their day jobs, they set about perfecting their craft in public parks. On Wednesday nights, they'd practice falling onto donated mattresses and throwing punches while Los Angeles police watched from a parked car nearby.

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/26/468157462/for-2-black-stuntmen-breaking-into-hollywood-you-were-subject-to-get-hurt

Afrofuturism Mixes Sci-Fi and Social Justice. Here’s How It Works.

Jason Ikeem Rodgers conducts The Orchestra Di Toscana Classica Part 1

This Kid - UGH!

From USA Today - (bold is mine)

A student breaks into his teacher's phone and distributes nude photo of her, and she's forced out.

(Photo: WYFF (Greenville, S.C.) News-4, via AP)

When we were kids, the teacher’s desk was a fearsome island, a place you didn’t approach unless you absolutely had to.

Clearly, things have changed.

Take what happened when a South Carolina high school teacher left her cell phone on her desk last week to, she says, do her hall monitoring duties for a few minutes.

That phone was swiped by a 16-year-old male student, who then opened her photo library, went through the teacher’s photos, found a picture of her nude that she had taken for her husband (as she would later freely admit) for Valentine’s Day. The student took a snapshot of that photo with his phone, then sent it around to anyone and everyone he chose.

According to the teacher in an interview with a South Carolina CBS affiliate, that student later told her, “Your day of reckoning is coming.”

Now, I would like to state, proudly, how old I am. I am old enough that 1) If I took something from my teacher’s desk 2) If I dared to leaf through it 3) If I ever uttered the words, “Your day of reckoning is coming” to ANY ADULT IN THE WORLD — my day of reckoning would have already arrived.

I would have been thrown out of school, no questions asked, which would not have mattered, since my parents would have grounded me for life.

Instead, last week, the only day of reckoning was for the teacher, a 13-year veteran named Leigh Anne Arthur. Thanks to this kid’s antics, she was pressured to resign, she said.

And, until Friday, after the public outcry had grown loud, the student had not been punished or charged.

Like I said, things have changed.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/nation-now/2016/03/09/south-carolina-high-school-fires-teacher-nude-selfie-student-thief-column/81541862/

The Blind Leading the Blind

Ben Carson has just announced he's supporting Trump for President.

It goes to show you that even smart people can be stupid.

Unlikely Business Partners

From The Root -

2 Former Los Angeles Gang Rivals Created a Catering Business

Trap Kitchen LA is the brainchild of  former Bloods and Crips members.

http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2016/03/_2_former_los_angeles_gang_rivals_created_a_catering_business.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26

The New Footlong

From Salon - 

“Size queens take note”: Chicago hot dog stand creates the “Trump footlong” and “it’s yuuuuge” 

The description of these 3-inch long dogs is as honest as the man whose name they bear — so, not at all 

http://www.salon.com/2016/03/11/size_queens_take_note_chicago_hot_dog_stand_creates_the_trump_footlong_and_its_yuuuuge/?source=newsletter

Quote

From Very Smart Brothas - 

MARIA SHARAPOVA MUST’VE HAD SOME SHITTY DRUGS IF THEY MADE HER LOSE TO SERENA 18 STRAIGHT TIMES

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Now, I’m not sure what meldonium is or what it does, but I do know that performance enhancing drugs are called performance enhancing drugs because they are drugs that presumably enhance performance. I also know that Maria Sharapova, the world’s highest paid tennis player, has lost 18 consecutive times to Serena Williams. The most recent being Jan 26th, the day she was drug tested. Which makes me wonder which performance these drugs were enhancing. Did her hair get more blonde? Did she get better at typing? Did her guacamole improve? Is she doing a better job responding to emails and text messages in a timely manner? Can she drink a whole Hennessy fifth? (Some call that a problem, but I consider it a gift.) Did she receive an especially cruel version of the same powers as Bradley Cooper in Limitless, with tennis courts being her only kryptonite? Can she Wobble without forgetting her steps? Or learn how to summarize shows to friends without spoiling them? (An underrated great quality to have.) Did she become a crocheting maven? Like, the best motherfucking crocheter in the history of crocheting? Can this chick loop the shit out of some yarn now?

http://verysmartbrothas.com/maria-sharapova-mustve-had-some-shitty-drugs-if-they-made-her-lose-to-serena-18-straight-times/

You're Never Too Old to Twist & Shout

To My Irish Friends . . .

From The Associated Press - 

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, genealogical research website Ancestry.com is making 10 million Catholic parish records from Ireland — some dating to 1655 — available online for free to help people trace their Irish heritage.

http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:b6c1df6496f64070a59e8b4fbd702551

Real or Fake?

From USA Today -

How to spot fake product reviews.  Just copy the URL of the product onto the page, and wait for the analysis of reviews.

http://fakespot.com/top-fake-reviews

This Dude Should Rot in Hell!